On the 26th, Handsome, a fashion company under the Hyundai Department Store Group, announced that its fashion brands 'Time Paris' and 'System Homme' have signed entry agreements with the department stores Samaritaine and Galeries Lafayette in Paris, France.
Starting from the 30th, Handsome will showcase the first global pop-up store for Time Paris at the Samaritaine department store for two months. Samaritaine is one of France's representative department stores with a 150-year tradition. After being acquired by the luxury group Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), it reopened in 2021 after investing about 1 trillion won in renovation expenses.
This pop-up will be the first official pop-up store for domestic fashion brands held at Samaritaine and the first global offline entry for Time Paris.
A representative from Handsome noted, "The positive local response obtained through the solo presentation of Time Paris conducted in Paris since last year has led to the opening of the pop-up store," adding, "The space for the pop-up event on the basement floor is a key location where global luxury brands like Celine and Prada have held pop-ups."
In January next year, Handsome will open a formal store for the men's casual brand System Homme at the largest department store chain in France, Lafayette. To expand the global sales network of System, Handsome has been conducting local presentations for global fashion and retail professionals twice a year. Last year, the first global flagship store (experience store) for System and System Homme was opened in the Marais district of Paris.
The positive influence of the pop-up store for the women's casual brand System, which was held at the Lafayette Osman flagship store for a year starting from July last year, contributed to the opening of this formal store. At that time, System achieved such strong performance that it ranked among the top 5 in monthly sales. Handsome is also discussing the formal entry of System.
Handsome has been participating in Paris Fashion Week for seven consecutive years since 2019. In 2014, it operated the 'Tom Greyhound' Paris store in France and recently converted it into the first global flagship store for System. The System Paris store had exceeded 10,000 cumulative visitors within three months of its opening, and sales exceeded 130% of the target.
Handsome plans to continue expanding its offline distribution network in Europe. Currently, it is discussing regular entries with department stores in France and is in talks for wholesale contracts with various distributors, including Harrods in the UK.
A representative from Handsome stated, "The efforts accumulated over more than ten years to enter the global market are bearing fruit" and added, "We consider Paris, France, as a forward base for Handsome's rise as a global fashion corporation and are preparing for further expansion to North America and Asia."